Police horse's attacked by dog

I can see no reason why it should not be possible to have several lists, one of dogs that are banned and a second of dogs that should always be on a lead and muzzledwhen in a public space. There could also be other rules that limit the ownership of dogs on the muzzled list, like owners having a minimum area of outside space, properly fenced, so that these dogs are not cooped up in flats or in houses with excessively small back yards.

It should be possible to move dogs from the free to muzzled to banned list based on a rolling 5 year review of the number of attacks on human and animals they have made.

I suffered an attack from a muzzled dog, it was on a lead but was too strong for its owner pulled away and left me with a badly bruised arm. I cannot remember the breed or if I really noticed.

One difficulty with the idea of several lists and different categories is who enforces this. We don’t have enough police officers to investigate crime never mind adding more work. Dog wardens are also overwhelmed and don’t have any real powers.
People x breed bullies, rotties, pit bulls so it’s difficult to identify what breed.
These back street bullie type breeders are already breaking the law by cutting the puppies ears. I’ve not seen any prosecutions.
I fear the easiest response by local councils is to have all dogs on leads in any public place. I keep my over enthusiastic young lab on lead but my little spaniel is happy to trot along off lead, she’s no problem with people or dogs and it would be such a shame if she didn’t get off lead walks with plenty of free time to sniff.
Like everyone else, I’m sick of irresponsible owners who know nothing about the training involved.

If dogs had to be licensed and chipped, the listing would be part of that and proof would be required at that point.

After that, follow-up would only be needed if a breach of the rules was reported. Moving breeds between categories would e part of completing ordinary statistical returns that the government does anyway. Number of dog attacks in a year andbreeds involved.

Callistemon21 Why anyone wants a dog like this is beyond me especially someone who has no clue about how much training is involved.

Some breeds must be banned, imo. Adequate dog training, dog exercise, lead rules - common sense (which is uncommon) - err on the side of caution.

Law: "All dogs must be implanted with a microchip loaded with information about them (breed, sex, colour etc), their keepers' details. Puppies must be microchipped and registered with a database by the time they're eight weeks old."

However, rules can't stop a dog from attacking you or your dog/ horse/ child - I know this well from a horrific experience. We now carry legal deterrent spray. We also avoid off lead / not muzzled dogs.

It’s a certain type that own these American bullies and the young man that owned this one is typical. No care for the dog. All about status and look what my dog can do. Pity the owners can’t be banned, put down.

That sounds like a plan tickingbird

If only sodapop

As a lifelong dog-owner, I am often infuriated by the minority of irresponsible owners who give the rest of us a bad name. There are many places where even allegedly well-trained dogs should be on a lead, and around horses is one of them. The dog in this case appeared to be totally out of control, and the so-called owner was a waste of space as regards stepping in to stop it. The member of the public with a stick who bravely stepped in was taking a heck of a chance, and was lucky not to be seriously mauled himself.

I agree NanaDana he was really brave when other men stood by filming on phones.
The dog should be put down and the owner heavily fined at the very least.I’d prefer to see him do six months tbh.

This is one occasion when I’m pleased someone was filming

M0nica

If dogs had to be licensed and chipped, the listing would be part of that and proof would be required at that point.

After that, follow-up would only be needed if a breach of the rules was reported. Moving breeds between categories would e part of completing ordinary statistical returns that the government does anyway. Number of dog attacks in a year andbreeds involved.

Great ideas